Attention Decit Disorder

Yale University Press Health & Wellness

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Thomas E. Brown, Ph.D., Attention Decit Disorder: The Unfocused Mind
in Children and Adults
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Attention
Decit
Disorder
The Unfocused Mind in Children and Adults

Thomas E. Brown, Ph.D.

Yale University Press New Haven & London

The information and suggestions contained in this book are not intended to replace
the services of your physician or caregiver. Because each person and each medical
situation is unique, you should consult your own physician to get answers to your
personal questions, to evaluate any symptoms you may have, or to receive suggestions on appropriate medications.
The author has attempted to make this book as accurate and up-to-date as
possible, but it may nevertheless contain errors, omissions, or material that is outof-date at the time you read it. Neither the author nor the publisher has any legal
responsibility or liability for errors, omissions, out-of-date material, or the readers
application of the medical information or advice contained in this book.
Copyright 2005 by Thomas E. Brown. All rights reserved. This book may not be
reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that
copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except
by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers.
Designed by Rebecca Gibb. Set in Scala type by Integrated Publishing Solutions.
Printed in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Brown, Thomas E., Ph. D.
Attention deficit disorder : the unfocused mind in children and adults /
Thomas E. Brown
p. cm. (Yale University Press health & wellness)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-300-10641-6 (alk. paper)
1. Attention-decit hyperactivity disorder. 2. Attention-decit disorder in adults.
I. Title. II. Series.
RJ506.H9B765 2005
616.8589dc22
2005040895
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. The paper in
this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on
Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To my wife, Bobbie, with continuing love and gratitude for all you are,
all you give, and all we share together

As physicians strive to gather more data, to see more, to be more

objective, to be more scientic, they are often experienced by
their patients as not listening. . . . Listening is central to learning
about and coming to understand a suerer. . . . The healer learns
about the suerer in direct proportion to the quantity and quality
of his listening.
Stanley W. Jackson, M.D., The Listening Healer in the History
of Psychological Healing (1992)
The untangling of the complexity has barely begun. . . . But even
at its early stages, the whole business of the matter of the mind
requires a global view if we are to get anywhere.
Gerald M. Edelman, M.D., Ph.D., Bright Air, Brilliant Fire:
On the Matter of the Mind (1992)

Contents

Preface xi
Introduction xvii
Chapter 1

Misconceptions about Focus and Willpower 1

Chapter 2

Six Aspects of a Complex Syndrome 20

Chapter 3

ADD Syndrome and the Working Brain 59

Chapter 4

Childhood: Struggling with Self-Management 92

Chapter 5

Adolescence: Greater Independence

Brings New Challenges 117

Chapter 6

Adulthood: Managing Responsibilities,

Finding a Niche 143

Chapter 7

How ADD Syndrome Diers from Normal Inattention 167

Chapter 8

Disorders That May Accompany ADD Syndrome 200

Chapter 9

Medications and Other Treatments 246

Chapter 10

Fears, Prejudices, and Realistic Hope 296

Contents

Resources 319
References 323
Index 349

ix

Preface

Over the past decade hundreds of thousands of children, adolescents, and

adults have been diagnosed and treated for attention decit disorder (ADD)
or attention-decit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Advocacy groups for
individuals and families aected with ADD/ADHD are burgeoning not
only in the United States and Canada, but also in the United Kingdom,
Germany, Australia, Mexico, Norway, Spain, Japan, and many other diverse cultures around the world.
Despite this popular groundswell and a tremendous amount of scientic evidence supporting the validity of the ADHD diagnosis and the
safety and eectiveness of available treatments, a large segment of those
in the popular media and many individuals remain skeptical; they consider ADD a trivial problem that is often overdiagnosed and overtreated.
Most of this skepticism is based on simple ignorance about the complex
nature of the disorder, its often devastating eects on individuals and families, and the safe, eective benets obtained by the vast majority of those
who receive appropriate treatment.
Over the past twenty years I have assessed and helped to provide treatment for thousands of children, adolescents, and adults who suer from
attention decit disorders. I have studied and participated in relevant scientic research. I have traveled throughout the United States and in twentyxi

xii

Preface

ve other countries to consult with professionals and laypersons about

ADHD and to oer lectures and professional education workshops. These
experiences have convinced me that there is a continuing and widespread
need for a clear, scientically based explanation of what ADD/ADHD is,
what it isnt, and how it can eectively be recognized and treated.
Thirty-six years ago, when I began studying psychology at Yale, we did
not have the powerful imaging tools that now make it possible to look
within the living human brain and observe moment to moment changes
in its neural networks. We were, however, taught another way to learn
about problems of brain function: to listen carefully to the way patients describe their experiences.
I have written Attention Decit Disorder to describe what Ive learned
from conversations with thousands of children, adolescents, and adults
who have ADHD. I hope it will be of interest to a wide range of readers in
the general public: those who encounter these problems in themselves,
family, or friends, and those who simply want to gain a fresh perspective
on the fascinating complexity of the human brain. I hope it will also be useful for psychologists, educators, psychiatrists, pediatricians, family practice
physicians, internists, social workers, human resource managers, counselors, and other professionals who want to better provide understanding
and appropriate support to individuals who suer from the diculties described here.
The path to writing this book began one day as I listened to a very bright
high school student describe frustrations that interfered daily with his
schoolwork. He complained that he could read uently, but moments later
could not recall what he had just read. He said that his mind repeatedly
took long excursions in almost every class. Often he was unable to stay focused enough to catch more than snippets of the lecture or class discussion.
He explained that despite good intentions to prepare homework and write
papers, he ended up procrastinating on assignments and got the inevitable
poor results. Something about his description of these persistent struggles
made them sound more like problems of cant than problems of wont.
The boys descriptions led me to suspect he had an attention decit
disorder that had remained undiagnosed because he was bright and not

Preface

xiii

hyperactive or disruptive. A trial of stimulant medication brought sudden

and dramatic improvements in virtually all of his attentional impairments.
That experience ignited my curiosity. How could someone with so
much ability, such an intense desire for success, be chronically impaired
in so many ways and then overcome these diculties almost overnight
using just a few small daily doses of a short-acting medication?
The following pages are lled with many real-life examples obtained
from children, adolescents, and adults suering from ADHD. These are
intertwined with explanations of current research in neuroscience, psychology, and psychiatry that I nd helpful in understanding the complex
problems of how this disorder can be recognized and eectively treated.
The rst chapter poses the perplexing question of ADHD: How can
apparently normal persons have chronic diculty maintaining focus for
tasks they see as important, while they are able to pay attention very well
to less important tasks that interest them? Is this just a simple problem of
willpower? I argue that, despite appearances, the core problem in
ADHD is not lack of willpower, but chronic, often lifelong impairment of
the executive or management functions of the brain.
In Chapter 2 I use everyday examples to describe six clusters of cognitive problems reported by most persons with ADD. Some of these
symptoms are included in the diagnostic criteria for ADHD in DSM-IV,
the psychiatric diagnostic manual; some are not. These include chronic
diculties with (1) organizing, prioritizing, and getting started, (2) focusing, sustaining, and shifting attention, (3) regulating alertness, sustaining
eort, and determining processing speed, (4) managing frustration and
modulating emotions, (5) utilizing working memory and accessing recall,
and (6) monitoring and self-regulating action. These cognitive functions
interact to serve as the management system of the mind. Chronic impairments of these functions constitute what I call ADD syndrome.
Understanding this syndrome requires at least a minimal grasp of
how the brain operates. In Chapter 3 I oer basic explanations of how the
brain works to manage daily life: how it uses short-term term memory to
get things done; how it selects moment by moment what things are most
important to pay attention to; and how it regulates itself to be alert and

xiv

Preface

open for business when needed. The chapter includes information

about how two specic chemicals manufactured in the brain regulate
these functions, and what happens when those chemicals do not work adequately.
Problems of ADD syndrome are dierent at dierent ages. In Chapter
4 I describe how parents and teachers build a supportive environment, or
scaolding, to help young children gradually develop self-management
skills to behave carefully, to cooperate with others, to communicate, and
to work to learn to read and write. I also explain how, despite scaolding,
these tasks are much more dicult for children with ADD syndrome.
Chapter 5 explains how that scaolding is gradually withdrawn as
teenagers are required to take more responsibility for managing their
time and homework, dealing with their emerging sexuality and developing relationships, working for money and driving a car, and, eventually,
leaving home to function more independently. I describe impairments of
adolescents with ADD syndrome as they encounter these tasks.
Some adults have less diculty with ADD syndrome once they get out
of school. Others experience increasing diculty as they struggle to nd
and hold a job, advance careers, develop relationships, manage households and nances, and negotiate partnerships and childcare. I describe
the eects of ADD syndrome on these tasks in Chapter 6.
All the problems of ADD syndrome are experienced by everybody
sometimes. Chapter 7 raises the question of how clinicians can dierentiate the impairments of ADD syndrome from normal problems of inattention. Here, too, I challenge the validity of popular but overly simplistic
eorts to evaluate the impairments of ADD.
Research has established that persons diagnosed with ADHD are as
much as six times more likely than others to suer from one or more
other psychiatric or learning disorders at some time during their life. In
Chapter 8 I describe a variety of disorders of learning, emotion, or behavior that often overlap with ADD syndrome. I propose that executive function impairments of ADD syndrome are an integral part of many dierent
psychiatric and learning disorders, and I suggest some possible helpful
changes to current diagnostic models.

Preface

xv

In Chapter 9, I explain options to alleviate ADD syndrome impairments with treatment. The rst step in any treatment program is to provide accurate information to the patient and family about the nature and
course of ADD impairments. Since ADD syndrome is biochemically
based, the most eective treatment is usually medication. Recently, new
medications and new delivery systems for older medications have been
developed. I outline what is now known about safety, eectiveness, side
eects, and practical aspects of these medication treatments. The usefulness and limitations of behavioral treatments, accommodations, and
other supports for ADD syndrome are also described. I emphasize that it
is important to design for each patient a personalized treatment plan.
In Chapter 10, I provide examples of how untreated ADD syndrome
tends to erode hope, and how it can cause severe suering to individuals
and families. This chapter also describes fears, prejudices, and other factors that are barriers to seeking, obtaining, and sustaining adequate treatment. I contrast strategies that oer unrealistic hope with interventions
that nurture realistic hope in the daily lives of individuals and families
suering from ADD syndrome.
Many children, adolescents, and adults whom I have treated over the past
twenty years have contributed to what is written here. Their names and
identifying data have been removed, but I remain very grateful for their
comments and stories, which have infused my understanding and these
pages with essential details of real life. I also appreciate deeply the encouragement of patients, parents, and professional colleagues as I worked
to write and publish these materials; their enthusiasm has sustained me
during the long process of turning ideas and images into sentences and
paragraphs.
For helpful comments on earlier versions of the manuscript I am indebted to Dr. Jay Giedd, Dr. Anthony Rostain, Dr. Rosemary Tannock, and
Dr. Margaret Weiss. Wendy Hill is the medical illustrator who provided
the excellent drawings that illustrate the text. Our son, Dave Brown, helpfully challenged my hesitations about trying to write for a wider audience
and our daughter, Liza Somilleda, contributed perceptive comments on

xvi

Preface

the entire manuscript. I am especially indebted to Jean Thomson Black,

my editor at Yale University Press; she has played a pivotal role in helping
me to target and shape this manuscript. My sincere thanks also go to Julie
Carlson, manuscript editor, who kindly provided skilled guidance to improve the clarity and ow of each chapter. Most of all, I am grateful to my
beloved wife, Bobbie, who has skillfully helped me to rework my excessively professorial prose into a much more readable text. To her I am grateful not only for helping me to nurture this book to completion, but also for
the countless ways in which her sensitivity, wisdom, wit, and love sustain
my work and my life.

Introduction

Often people think of focus as holding a camera still and adjusting the
lens for a clear picture of an unmoving object. That is not the meaning of
focus in the title of this book. Rather, focus refers here to a complex, dynamic process of selecting and engaging what is important to notice, to
do, to remember, moment to moment. Much as a careful driver focuses
on the task of driving a car in heavy trac by actively looking ahead while
also checking mirrors, observing road signs, braking, and so on (all while
monitoring dashboard gauges, keeping in mind the speed limit and destination, and ignoring the temptation to look too long at interesting
sights), a person employs this very active, rapidly shifting, repeatedly readjusted deployment of attention and memory as the focus needed to plan
and control ongoing activity. Such focus is extremely dicult for the 7 to
10 percent of the worlds population who suer from a syndrome of cognitive impairments currently known as attention decit disorder (ADD) or
attention-decit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Syndrome is a term that describes a cluster of symptoms that tend
to appear together. For example, nasal congestion, sore throat, headache,
fatigue, and fever often appear together as a syndrome commonly referred
to as a cold. One single cause or a variety of dierent causes might lead
to one common syndrome.
xvii

xviii

Introduction

In this book, the term ADD syndrome is used to refer to a cluster of

impairments in the management system of the mind. The DSM-IV, the
diagnostic manual of the American Psychiatric Association, describes
currently accepted diagnostic criteria for attention-decit hyperactivity
disorder (ADHD). The concept of ADD syndrome introduced in this book
is not intended to be a new diagnosis, replacing existing diagnostic categories. I am simply proposing a new way of looking at these impairments,
of which many, but not all, are encompassed in current diagnostic criteria
for ADHD. Other labels have been proposed for this cluster of impairments: Attention Decit Disorder, Executive Dysfunction, Minimal
Brain Dysfunction, Regulatory Control Disorder, and Dysexecutive
Syndrome, to name a few. The concept of ADD syndrome described here
includes many impairments described by these various labels, impairments that often appear together and tend to respond to similar treatments.
Compared to others of the same age and developmental level, persons
with ADD syndrome tend often to have an unfocused mind not only for
driving, but also for many other important tasks of daily life. This does not
mean that persons with ADD syndrome are never able to focus adequately. Nor does it mean that those without ADD syndrome are always
well focused. ADD syndrome is not like pregnancy, an all-or-nothing status with no in-between. It is more like depression. Every person feels sad
sometimes, but a person is not diagnosed and treated for depression
simply because he feels unhappy for a few days or even a few weeks. It is
only when depressive symptoms are persistent and signicantly impairing that the diagnosis of depression is appropriately made. Similarly, persons with ADD syndrome are not constantly unfocused, but they are
much more persistently and pervasively impaired in these cognitive functions than most other people.
My purpose in writing this book is to describe more adequately the
complex ADD syndrome as it occurs in children, adolescents, and adults.
My understanding of ADD syndrome is not universally accepted. Some
researchers prefer less cognitive, more behavioral models to describe this
disorder. In these pages the reader will nd a new, somewhat controver-

Introduction

xix

sial understanding of ADD syndrome, including how it can be recognized

and how it can be treated eectively.
Sometimes an eective treatment for a disorder is discovered by accident, before there is a full understanding of what is being treated or why
the treatment works. An eective treatment for ADD syndrome was accidentally discovered in 1937 by Charles Bradley, a Rhode Island physician
who was seeking a medication to alleviate severe post-spinal-tap headaches
in behavior-disordered children he was studying. The amphetamine compound he tried was not helpful for the headaches, but teachers reported
dramatic, though short-lived, improvement in the childrens learning,
motivation, and behavior while they were on this medication. Gradually
this treatment gained wider use for hyperactive children with disruptive
behavior problems.
Our understanding of what would later be called ADD syndrome expanded signicantly during the 1970s when researchers noticed that hyperactive children tend also to have chronic problems with inattention that,
like problems with hyperactivity, improve in response to stimulant treatment. In 1980 the American Psychiatric Association rst used the term
attention decit disorder as an ocial diagnosis. At that time they recognized chronic impairment of attention, with or without hyperactive behavior problems, as a psychiatric disorder. The 1980 version of the diagnostic manual also noted that although this disorder usually originates
during childhood, impairments to attention sometimes persist into adulthood. A 1987 revision of the manual changed the name of this condition
to Attention-Decit/Hyperactivity Disorder; since that time the ocial
name has continued to bind inattention to hyperactive behavior problems,
largely neglecting the independent importance of the syndromes cognitive impairments.
Over the past decade, specic medicines have proven safe and very
useful to many children, adolescents, and adults throughout the world
who suer from ADD syndrome. Yet very little has been published to explain in understandable terms the complex nature of attention and the
wide variety of these chronic cognitive problems associated with ADHD.

xx

Introduction

In this book, I emphasize the crippling eects of chronic inattention

problems on development and functioning throughout the lifespan. I also
suggest that the current diagnosis of ADHD encompasses only part of a
much wider range of cognitive impairments that are often responsive to
medication treatment. And I propose that a cluster of cognitive impairments associated with ADHD, here called ADD syndrome, aects not
only those diagnosed with ADHD, but also many people with a wide variety of other conditions, some of whom might benet from treatments
used for ADHD.
Like most clinicians of my generation and, unfortunately, many of the
current generation, I learned very little about impairments to attention during my professional training. We were taught to recognize little children,
mostly boys, who were extremely hyperactive and often responded to treatment with stimulant medications. And we were told that these hyperactive
children often had diculty paying attention to their teachers and parents. But our education about attention problems generally stopped there.
In the ensuing thirty years of clinical work, I have learned much more
about the complex nature of attention. The impetus for most of this learning came from my patients: children, adolescents, and adults struggling
with learning, working, social relationships, and family life. As they described to me the wide variety of their chronic problems with inattention,
I began to appreciate the complexity of attention and its crucial importance
in everyday life. Indeed, by describing the wide range of cognitive functions that improve when treatment is eective, these patients have helped
me see the interconnectedness of the attentional networks of the mind.
Although this book is built on a clinical understanding of patients
with problems of inattention, it also incorporates information from current research in psychology, psychiatry, and neuroscience. By integrating
recent ndings in these rapidly changing elds with the clinical study of
how inattention aects patients day by day, we can better understand previously mysterious processes within the brainand better support patients with symptoms of ADHD.
Many people of all ages continue to suer needlessly from chronic impairments of attentional functions. I hope through this book to share my

Introduction

xxi

understanding, acquired over years of clinical experience and research,

that many of these complex impairments are treatable. I want to challenge
common misunderstandings of ADD syndrome and to advocate for those
who suer from the disorder. In addressing ADD syndrome, we have an
important opportunity both to relieve widespread suering and to learn
more about the vast, fascinating complexities of the human brains attention and management systems.

Chapter 1

Misconceptions about Focus and Willpower

MYTH: ADD is just a lack of willpower. Persons with ADD focus well on
things that interest them; they could focus on any other tasks if they really
wanted to.
FACT: ADD looks very much like a willpower problem, but it isnt. Its essentially a chemical problem in the management systems of the brain.

Most individuals who suer chronically from an impaired ability to pay attention are able to focus their attention very well on activities that interest
them. So why cant they pay attention during other activities that they recognize as important? To answer this riddle, we have to look more carefully
at the many aspects of attention, recognizing that processes of attention in
the human brain are more complex and subtle than we might have imagined. One way to understand the complexity of attention is to listen carefully to patients with ADHD as they describe their struggles with inattention. Meet a patient of mine, a teenaged hockey player whom Ill call Larry:
Larry, a sturdy, sandy-haired high school junior, was sitting in
my oce with his parents as we began our rst session together.
While introducing the family, the parents mentioned that Larrys
hockey team had just won the state championship. Proudly they
told of how well he had played. As goalie he had successfully
blocked thirty-four shots in the championship game and led his
team to victory. Larry smiled modestly, but with obvious and
well-deserved pleasure.

Misconceptions about Focus and Willpower

Then Larrys father stated their dilemma. When he is playing hockey, Larry is amazing in how he pays attention to all the
action. He knows where that puck is every second. He protects
the goal and at the same time he watches what the other guys
are doing and helps keep his team organized and motivated. He
is always totally involved and on top of his game.
But at school, his father continued, its an entirely dierent
story. We know that Larry is very bright. His IQ test scores show
hes in the superior range, in the top 3 percent. Usually he scores
high on semester exams and he did very well on the PSAT, but
his day-to-day work and his report card grades are always up and
down, from A+ to almost failing.
We know Larry wants to get good grades. Hes always talking
about how he wants to become a doctor and how he needs to get
his grades up so hell get into a good college and then medical
school. But for years he has been totally inconsistent in his
schoolwork. Once in a while we see him burning the midnight
oil to do some reading or write a paper, but most of the time
he procrastinates and avoids his schoolwork. Were constantly
getting complaints from his teachers, the same frustrations
every year.
They say that once in a while Larry will make some comment in class that shows how smart he is, how well he understands whatever they are working on. Once in a while hell write
an excellent paper or do an amazing job on an assignment. But
most of the time, the teachers are complaining that Larry is uninvolved and out to lunch. Hes not a behavior problem, but he
is gazing out the window or staring at the ceiling. They say that
in class discussions he often doesnt even know what page they
are on. And were always getting reports that his homework is
late or just not done.
How can Larry be so amazingly good at paying attention
to his hockey, and yet be so amazingly poor at paying attention
to his schoolwork?

Misconceptions about Focus and Willpower

Larry had been staring at the carpet as his father spoke, but
then he raised his head. His eyes were moist as he quietly said
to his parents, I dont know why it keeps happening. Im just as
frustrated and even more worried about this than you are. When
I saw my last report card, I went to my room and cried.
I know what I have to do and I really want to do it because
I know how important it is for all the rest of my life. I try to get
into it like Im into hockey. Sometimes I can get into it for a
while, for this assignment or that class. But mostly I just cant
make it happen.
I really want to, and I know I should be able to do it; I just
cant. I just cant make myself pay steady attention to my work
for school anywhere near the way I pay attention when Im
playing hockey.
A very similar dilemma was experienced by Monica, a shy girl in fth
grade who hung her head as her mother angrily described to me her problems in school.
Her teachers say she cant pay attention for more than three
minutes at a time. I know thats not true! Ive watched her play
Nintendo. She can play those video games for three hours at a
time without moving. And the teacher says shes easily distracted. Thats nonsense! When shes playing those video
games shes locked onto that screen like a laser. When shes into
those games the only way you can get her attention is to jump in
her face or just turn o the TV.
Ive done everything I can think of to get her to shape up in
school. Ive gotten daily reports from school and praised her
when she did well. Ive tried to bribe her with rewards for good
work. Ive tried punishing her, taking away her Nintendo or making her do long time-outs in her room. None of it works. I know
she can pay attention when she really wants to. I dont know
what else I can do. Shes not a dumb kid and shes not a bad kid,
but if she doesnt start paying attention to her schoolwork pretty

Misconceptions about Focus and Willpower

soon, shes never going to do any better in school than I did.

I never nished high school and I really regret it. I want something better for her. If only I could get her to pay attention to her
schoolwork the way she pays attention to those video games.
Everyone Ive ever evaluated for chronic problems with inattention
has some domains of activity where they can pay attention without any
diculty. Some are artistic; they intently sketch and draw. Others are
childhood engineers constructing marvels with Lego blocks and, in later
years, repairing car engines or designing computer networks. Some others are musicians who push themselves for hours to learn chords for a
new song or to compose a new piece of music.
Attention and Willpower
The examples of Larry and Monica bring us back to the central riddle of
chronic inattention: How can someone who is very good at paying attention for some activities be unable to pay enough attention to other tasks
that they know are important and really want to accomplish? When I have
asked this question of patients with ADHD, most answer with something
like: Its easy! If its something Im really interested in, I can pay attention. If its not interesting to me, I cant pay attention, regardless of how
much I might want to.
Most people respond to this answer with skepticism. Thats true for
anyone, they say. Anybodys going to pay attention better for something
theyre interested in than for something theyre not.
But for some individuals there is an important dierence. When faced
with something boring that they know they have to do, thats important to
them, most people can make themselves focus on the task at hand. Yet
some lack this ability unless the consequences of not paying attention are
very immediate and severe. One middle-aged businessman, Henry, whom
I had diagnosed with attention decit disorder, once reported:
Ive got a sexual example for what it is like to have ADD. Its like
having impotence of the mind. If the task you are trying to do is
something that turns you on, youre up for it and you can per-

Misconceptions about Focus and Willpower

form. But if the task you are trying to do is not intrinsically interesting, if it doesnt turn you on, then you cant get it up. You
cant make it happen. Its just not a willpower kind of thing.
Facets of Attention
What do we mean by paying attention? Over one hundred years ago,
William James wrote:
Everyone knows what attention is. It is the taking of possession
by the mind, in clear and vivid form, of one out of what seem
several possible objects or trains of thought. Focalization, concentration of consciousness [is] its essence. It implies withdrawal from some things in order to deal eectively with others,
and it is a condition which has a real opposite in the confused,
dazed, scatter-brained state which . . . is called distraction.
(1890, vol. 1, pp. 403 404)
James held what I call the spotlight theory of attention: the notion
that attention is a solitary, powerful beam focused by the mind on some
objects or trains of thought (in Jamess words) selected from the many
other perceptions and ideas that might otherwise be attended to in that
same moment.
This spotlight theory is too simple. It describes only certain types of
attentionvisual attention, for example, in which one looks steadily at one
point rather than itting around aimlessly to see many dierent points, or
simple auditory attention, in which one listens to one sound, or a series of
sounds, while ignoring others. But when we look carefully at the descriptions of Larry and Monica, for example, we notice that they do many things
at once. They are not only watching and listening to what is happening on
the screen or on the ice, but also engaging in complex actions that may
occur simultaneously or in rapid-re sequence. As Monica plays her video
games, she is not simply staring at the TV, but also actively monitoring
rapid movements of many objects on the screen, deciding which ones
might enrich or destroy her icon. She responds quickly by pressing control
buttons and guiding her icon with adept movements of the controls. Mon-

Misconceptions about Focus and Willpower

ica keeps track of her score and her levels in the game, all while recalling
and engaging strategies useful in earlier games. She also contains her alternating feelings of frustration and triumph so that she can attend to the
game without overreacting to its ever-changing ups and downs.
Likewise, Larrys success on the hockey rink depends on multifaceted
and simultaneously implemented aspects of attention. He not only tracks
the puck in its quick movements around the ice, but also monitors his
teammates and opposing players, trying to anticipate moves and to alert
his defensemen to dangers and opportunities. Simultaneously, he keeps
track of the passage of timehow many minutes or seconds are left in the
period, or how soon a player will be released from the penalty box.
Larry also notices subtle cues of agging eort in his teammates and
calls out to encourage and challenge them. He stops himself from thinking too much about a goal he just blocked or one that just got by him into
the net. He keeps in mind and tries to follow tips given by his coach in
practice last week or during the momentary time out. And he tries to ignore provocative actions and comments from opposing players or spectators. All this and much more is included in Larrys paying attention while
he is playing hockey.
Larrys father suggested even broader meanings of attention when he
spoke of how Larry exercised year round in the gym to stay in shape for
hockey and how he pushed himself hard to build strength, endurance,
and skills during team practices. He elaborated on how Larry planned his
daily schedule to be on time to every practice. And he told of how carefully
Larry managed his equipment, keeping his skates sharp and his pads and
uniform in good repair. He related how this boy attended special training
clinics and studied plays of college and professional goalies so he could
use their strategies to improve his moves on the ice. From this description
it was clear that Larry gave intense and continuing attention to hockey in
a wide variety of complex ways.
The Many Components of Inattention
If attention is more than just a simple beam of focus, we can reason
that inattention is multifaceted as well. When teachers and parents

Misconceptions about Focus and Willpower

complained about Larry and Monicas poor attention to their schoolwork,

they were not using a simple focus the spotlight concept of attention
that is, they were not complaining simply about these students not listening to the class discussion or not watching what was being written on the
blackboard. They were talking about a much broader, more complex range
of attentional functions.
Larrys problems with lack of attention to schoolwork included a
chronic failure to engage himself with the various tasks of school. He reported not only excessive distractibility, but also chronic diculty in getting started on assigned work; he would intend to do it, but procrastinate
until it was too late. He told of poor planning, losing track of what readings were assigned or what math problems were to be done. This boy who
was so careful with his skates and hockey equipment often lost his textbooks and couldnt nd the notes he needed to do his homework. He told
of how he often would start an assignment and then lose interest in it, setting aside the task to do something else and frequently not returning to it.
Larry also complained about his memory for schoolwork. Although
he had become a virtual encyclopedia of statistics and other detailed information about many hockey players, he reported chronic forgetfulness
about directions given by the teacher or the content of readings he had
done for class. Often he was unable to recall for an exam information he
had studied carefully and seemed to have mastered just the day before.
Larry said he often felt drowsy in class and while he was trying to read
texts assigned for homework. He described how he had to struggle to stay
awake in those situations, even when he had slept well the night before
and was not overtired. This sluggishness was in sharp contrast to the
heightened alertness he felt anytime he was thinking about or engaged in
tasks related to hockey.
Inattention as a Disorder
When we look carefully at the details of Larrys chronic academic diculties, it is clear that this boys inattention is broad-based and complex. It
includes problems of excessive distractibility, procrastination, diculties
in organizing his work, avoidance of tasks requiring sustained mental

Misconceptions about Focus and Willpower

eort, insucient attention to details, losing track of belongings, failure

to nish assigned tasks, and excessive forgetfulness in daily activities.
What do all of these problems have in common? They are all impairments in facets of attentionimpairments that are elements of what I
describe in Chapter 2 as ADD syndrome. And all of these chronic
diculties are listed among the inattention symptoms of the disorder
ADHD in DSM-IV, the fourth edition of the diagnostic manual published
by the American Psychiatric Association (2001). Inattention as it is described in DSM-IV is a broad term. Under its umbrella are a wide variety
of cognitive impairments recognized as chronic, but not necessarily constant. The diagnostic manual notes: Signs of the disorder may be minimal or absent when the person is under very strict control, is in a novel
setting, is engaged in especially interesting activities, is in a one-to-one
situation . . . or while the person experiences frequent rewards for appropriate behavior (p. 79).
Everyone experiences diculty in exercising these various aspects of
attention from time to time. But those who legitimately are diagnosed as
having ADHD by DSM-IV criteria are persons who manifest ADHD symptoms to a degree that is maladaptive and inconsistent with developmental level (p. 83). In other words, they must have these symptoms to a degree that makes consistent trouble for them in ways that most persons of
the same age and developmental level do not often experience. Moreover,
the ADHD symptoms must produce clear evidence of clinically signicant impairment in social, academic or occupational functioning (p. 84).
That is, the ADHD must disrupt signicantly the individuals schoolwork,
employment, and/or relationships with other people.
ADHD is not like pregnancy, where one either does or does not have
the characteristics, where there is no almost or a little bit. ADHD is
more like depression, which occurs along a continuum of severity. Everyone occasionally has symptoms of a depressed mood. But being unhappy
for a few days does not qualify one for the diagnosis of depression. It is
only when symptoms of depression signicantly interfere with an individuals activities over a longer time that he or she is eligible for such a
diagnosis.

Misconceptions about Focus and Willpower

Moreover, for inattention impairments to be considered a disorder,

they not only have to be chronic and impairing, but also have to be present in a cluster. These multiple aspects of inattention constitute a syndrome, a grouping of symptoms that often occur together and characterize
a specic disorder. Put another way, the impairments described in the examples of Larry and Monica are like a string of Christmas tree lights, each
of which may appear separate when viewed from a distance, but are actually linked. And as with Christmas tree lightscertainly the older, less reliable versionswhen one ickers or fails, the others usually do the same.
This example of Christmas tree lights is not perfect. Cognitive functions of attention are not wired in series like the old light strings. And they
are not simple or discrete as are the separate bulbs. Each attentional function Ive described is, in fact, itself a cluster of complex functions. Yet despite the limitations of this metaphor, chronic symptoms of inattention do
appear as a syndrome and patients can be successfully diagnosed on the
basis of these symptoms. In fact, individuals diagnosed with ADHD, by
denition, have chronic impairments in not just a few, but in at least six
of the nine inattention symptoms listed in DSM-IV and often some of the
hyperactive-impulsive symptoms as well. I discuss components of the
ADD syndrome in more detail in Chapter 2.
ADD Syndrome and Impaired Executive Functions
For decades the syndrome now known as ADHD was seen simply as a
childhood behavior disorder characterized by chronic restlessness, excessive impulsivity, and an inability to sit still. Late in the 1970s it was recognized that these hyperactive children also had signicant and chronic
problems paying attention to tasks or listening to their teachers. This discovery paved the way for changing the name of the disorder in 1980 from
hyperkinetic disorder to attention decit disorder and to recognizing
that some children suer from chronic problems of inattention without
any signicant hyperactivity. That change from an exclusive focus on hyperactivity and impulsive behavior to a primary focus on inattention as the
principal problem of the disorder was the rst major paradigm shift in
understanding this syndrome.

10

Misconceptions about Focus and Willpower

In recent years another major shift in understanding ADHD has been

developing. Increasingly researchers are recognizing that the syndrome of
ADHD symptoms overlaps with impairments in what neuropsychologists
call executive functions. F. Xavier Castellanos (1999) pointed this out:
ADHD is not merely a decit of attention, an excess of locomotor activity or their simple conjunction. . . . The unifying abstraction that best encompasses the faculties principally aected in
ADHD has been termed executive function (EF), which is an
evolving concept . . . there is now impressive empirical support
for its importance in ADHD. (p. 179)
The concept of executive functions refers not to corporate activities of
business executives, but to facets of the cognitive management functions
of the brain. Although there is not yet an established consensus denition
of executive functions, most researchers agree that the term should be
used to refer to brain circuits that prioritize, integrate, and regulate other
cognitive functions. Executive functions, then, manage the brains cognitive functions; they provide the mechanism for self-regulation (Vohs
and Baumeister 2004).
A Metaphor for Executive Functions
Imagine a symphony orchestra in which each musician plays his or her
instrument very well. If there is no conductor to organize the orchestra
and start the players together, to signal the introduction of the woodwinds
or the fading out of the strings, or to convey an overall interpretation of the
music to all players, the orchestra will not produce good music.
Symptoms of ADD can be compared to impairments not in the individual musicians, but in the orchestras conductor. As is clear in the cases
of Larry and Monica, persons diagnosed with ADD usually are able to pay
attention, to start and stop their actions, to keep up their alertness and
eort, and to utilize their short-term memory eectively when engaged in
certain favorite activities. This successful functioning of persons with
ADD in preferred activities indicates that these people are not totally unable to exercise attention, alertness, or eort. They can play their instru-

Misconceptions about Focus and Willpower

11

ments very wellsometimes. The problem of persons with ADD lies in

their chronic inability to activate and manage these functions in the right
way at the right time. Impairment lies not at the level of the individual musicians (those functions work perfectly well under certain circumstances),
but at the level of the conductor, who has to start and guide all of the individual players.
This notion that the core attentional problems in ADD are impairments of executive functions is quite dierent from William Jamess
spotlight concept of attention. The new paradigm describes the complex
and rapidly shifting integration of multiple aspects of attention to achieve
multiple tasks. Yet this notion does resonate with Jamess description of
attention as withdrawal from some things in order to deal eectively with
others. The concept of executive functions is a way of describing how the
brains various cognitive functions are managedby being continually
shifted and reconguredto deal eectively with the moment-bymoment demands of life.
One way to consider this broader view of attention as executive functions is to observe situations where tasks are not dealt with eectively.
Martha Bridge Denckla (1996) has written about patients with high intelligence and no specic learning disabilities who have chronic diculties
in dealing eectively with tasks. She compares these persons to a disorganized cook trying to get a meal on the table.
Imagine a cook who sets out to cook a certain dish, who has a
well-equipped kitchen, including shelves stocked with all the
necessary ingredients, and who can even read the recipe in the
cookbook. Now imagine, however, that this individual does not
take from the shelves all the ingredients relevant to the recipe,
does not turn on the oven in a timely fashion so as to have it at
the proper heat when called for in the recipe, and has not defrosted the central ingredient. This individual can be observed
dashing to the shelves, searching for the spice next mentioned
in the recipe, hurrying to defrost the meat and heat the oven out
of sequence. Despite possession of all equipment, ingredients

12

Misconceptions about Focus and Willpower

and recipe, this motivated but disheveled cook is unlikely to get

dinner on the table at the appointed hour. (p. 264)
The motivated but disheveled cook sounds very much like a person
with severe ADD who tries to accomplish a task, but is unable to get it together. Individuals with ADD often describe themselves as intensely
wanting to accomplish various duties for which they are unable to activate,
deploy, and sustain the needed executive functions.
Executive Functions and Intelligence
Denckla introduced her tale of the disorganized cook as an example of impairment seen in some patients who have excellent intelligence (p. 264).
This comment is important because it indicates that such disorganization
can be independent of general intelligence. It is quite possible for an individual to be extremely bright on standard measures of intelligence and
still have severe impairments of executive functions such as those often
seen in ADD.
I have evaluated persons with a wide range of intellectual abilities.
Some of my patients diagnosed with ADD are extremely bright, employed
as university professors, research scientists, physicians, attorneys, and
senior executives in business. The intellectual abilities of others are distributed across the high-average, average, and low-average ranges of IQ.
An individuals overall level of smarts as measured by standard IQ tests
appears to have very little to do with whether they meet the diagnostic criteria for ADD.
Executive Functions and Awareness
A forty-three-year-old man came to my oce with his wife to be evaluated
for attentional problems. Both of the couples children had recently been
diagnosed with ADD and had beneted from treatment. When I explained that most children diagnosed with ADD have a parent or other
close relative with ADD, both parents laughingly announced, Those
apples havent fallen far from the tree. All agreed that the father had
more ADD symptoms than either of the children. Heres how the wife
described her husband:

Misconceptions about Focus and Willpower

13

Most of the time hes totally spaced out. Last Saturday he set out
to x a screen upstairs. He went to the basement to get some
nails. Downstairs he saw that the workbench was a mess so he
started organizing the workbench. Then he decided he needed
some pegboard to hang up the tools. So he jumped into the car
and went to buy the pegboard. At the lumberyard he saw a sale
on spray paint, so he bought a can to paint the porch railing and
came home totally unaware that he hadnt gotten the pegboard,
that he had never nished sorting out the workbench, and that
he had started out to x the broken screen that we really needed
xed. What he needs is a lot more awareness of what he is doing.
Maybe that medicine our kids are taking can give him that.
From this wifes description one might conclude that the central problem of ADD is essentially a lack of sucient self-awareness. She seems to
believe that if only her husband were more steadily aware of what he is
doing, he would not be so disorganized, jumping from one task to another
without completing any single one. But most people do not require constant self-awareness to complete routine tasks. For most people, most of
the time, operations of executive functions occur automatically, outside
the realm of conscious awareness. For example, while driving a car to the
local supermarket, experienced drivers do not usually talk themselves
through each step of the process. They do not have to say to themselves:
Now I put the key in the ignition, now I put my foot on the brake, now I
turn on the engine, now I check my mirrors and prepare to back out of my
driveway, and so on. Most experienced drivers move eortlessly through
the steps involved in starting the car, negotiating trac, navigating the
route, observing trac regulations, nding a parking place, and parking
the car. In fact, while they do these complex tasks they may be tuning their
radio, listening to the news, thinking about what they intend to x for supper, and carrying on a conversation with a passenger. Eective execution
of multiple and concurrent tasks involved in driving to the supermarket
requires extensive use of executive functions, most of which operate without any conscious eort. Many other routine tasks of daily lifefor example, preparing a meal, shopping for groceries, doing homework, or par-

14

Misconceptions about Focus and Willpower

ticipating in a meetinginvolve similar self-management in order to

plan, sequence, monitor, and execute the complex sequences of behavior
required. Yet for most actions, most of the time, this self-management operates without full awareness or deliberate choice. The problem of the
unaware husband is not that he fails to think enough about what he is
doing. The problem is that the cognitive mechanisms that should help
him stay on task, without constantly and consciously weighing alternatives, are not working eectively.
Gerald Edelman and Giulio Tononi (2000) have described how much
of our cognitive life
is the product of highly automated routines. When it comes to
talking, listening, reading, writing or remembering, we are all
like accomplished pianists. When we read, all kinds of neural
processes are going on that allow us to recognize letters irrespective of the font and size, to parse them into words, to enable
lexical access and to take care of syntactic structure. There was
certainly a time in which we had consciously to learn about letters and words in a laborious way, but afterward these processes
become eortless and automatic. . . .
This pervasive automatization in our adult lives suggests that
conscious control is exerted only at critical junctures, when a
denite choice or a plan has to be made. In between, unconscious routines are continuously triggered and executed so that
consciousness can oat free of all these details and proceed to
plan and make sense of the grand scheme of things . . . only the
last levels of control or of analysis are available to consciousness,
while everything else proceeds automatically. (pp. 5758)
Even the simpler example of keyboarding on a computer illustrates
the point. If one can type uently without stopping to consciously select
and press each individual key, ones mind is left free to formulate ideas
and to convert these into words, sentences, and paragraphs that can convey ideas to a reader. Interrupting ones writing to focus on and press keys
one at a time costs too much time and eort; it cannot be done very often

Misconceptions about Focus and Willpower

15

if one is to write productively. Grainne Fitzsimons and John Bargh (Fitzsimmons and Bargh 2004, Bargh 2005) have summarized research showing that progress on many complex tasks rests on ones ability to carry out
most of the task using such automatic self-regulation.
Executive Functions and the Brains Signaling System
Recognition of the amazing fact that executive functions generally operate
without conscious awareness oers an important caveat to my use of the
orchestra conductor as a metaphor for executive functions. Some might
take my metaphor literally and assume that there is a special consciousness in the brain that coordinates other cognitive functions. One might
picture a little man, a homunculus, a central executive somewhere behind
ones forehead, exercising conscious control over cognition like a miniature Wizard of Oz. Thus, if there is a problem with the orchestras playing,
one might attempt to speak to the conductor, requesting or demanding
needed improvements in performance.
Indeed, this presumed conductor or controlling consciousness is
often the target of encouragement, pleas, and demands by parents, teachers, and others as they attempt to help those who suer from ADD. You
just need to make yourself focus and pay attention to your schoolwork the
way you focus on those video games you love to play! they say. Youve got
to wake up and put the same eort and energy into your studies that you
put into playing hockey!
Those who care about persons with ADD and witness their poor performance in important tasks routinely prod them to deal with their impotence in the face of those tasks by insisting: Just make yourself do it! We
can all see that you have the ability. Its just a matter of realizing what is
really important and exercising willpower! Alternatively, they may impose
punishments on the person with ADD or shame them for their failure to
make themselves do consistently what they ought to do. These critics
seem to assume that the person with ADD needs only to speak emphatically
to the conductor of their own mental operations to get the desired results.
But in reality there is no conscious conductor within the human
brain. Further, each individual can only use what is made available by his

16

Misconceptions about Focus and Willpower

or her own neural networks. If the persons neural networks for executive
functions are impaired, as they are in ADD, then that individual is likely
to be proportionally impaired in the management of a wide range of cognitive functions regardless of how much he or she may wish otherwise.
There is now considerable evidence that persons appropriately diagnosed with ADD suer from signicant impairments in executive functions of the brain. These functions are not all localized in a single area of
the brain; they are decentralized, with many supported by complex networks within the prefrontal cortex. Some essential components of executive functions are supported by the amygdala and other subcortical structures, while other executive functions depend on the reticular formation
and portions of the cerebellum located in the posterior of the brain. Figure 3 in Chapter 3 shows these and other critical regions and structures of
the brain.
Complex neuronal networks link the various structures in the brain
that sustain executive functions. Rapid-re messages of input and output
travel these networks via low-voltage electrical impulses that can traverse
the entire system in much less than a millisecond. The ecient movement of these electrical impulses along the network depends on the rapid
release and reuptake of neurotransmitter chemicals, which carry each
message across synapses, or the connections between neurons, much as
a spark jumps the gap of a sparkplug.
To do this work, each of the 100 billion neurons in the brain depends
on one of the fty or so neurotransmitter chemicals manufactured within
the brain. Without the eective release and reuptake of the needed neurotransmitter chemical, that portion of the neural network cannot eectively
carry its messages. There is now considerable evidence that executive
functions of the brain impaired in ADD depend primarily, though not exclusively, on two particular neurotransmitter chemicals: dopamine and
norepinephrine.
The most persuasive evidence for the importance of these two transmitter chemicals in ADD impairments comes from medication treatment
studies. Over two hundred well-controlled studies have demonstrated eectiveness of stimulant medications in alleviating symptoms of ADHD. Al-

Misconceptions about Focus and Willpower

17

though these medications are not eective for all persons with ADHD, they
work eectively to alleviate ADHD symptoms for 70 to 80 percent of those
diagnosed with this disorder. And the medications used to treat ADHD
symptoms tend to alleviate many symptoms of ADHD simultaneously.
The primary action of medications used for ADD is to facilitate release and to inhibit reuptake of dopamine and norepinephrine at neural
synapses of crucially important executive functions. As Antonio Damasio
(1994) emphasized,
Without basic attention and working memory there is no prospect of coherent mental activity. . . . They are necessary for the
process of reasoning, during which possible outcomes are compared, ranking of results are established, and inferences are
made. (p. 197)
ADD medications help to release dopamine or norepinephrine across the
synaptic gap between neurons and to hold it there long enough to pass the
message along. Medications that do not act powerfully to facilitate release
and to block reuptake of dopamine and norepinephrine tend not to be
eective in alleviating ADD symptoms.
Improvement produced by stimulants generally can be seen within
thirty to sixty minutes after an eective dose is administered. When the
medication has worn o, ADD symptoms generally reappear at their former level. Stimulants thus do not cure ADD symptoms; they only alleviate them while each dose of medication is active. In this sense, taking
stimulants is not like taking doses of an antibiotic to wipe out an infection;
it is more like wearing eyeglasses that correct ones vision while the glasses
are being worn, but do nothing to x ones impaired eyes. This eect has
been demonstrated repeatedly in over two hundred medication treatment
studies that were double-blind: that is, neither the doctors nor the patients
knew during the study who was being given real stimulant medication
and who was being treated with placebos.
Given the often dramatic alleviation of ADD symptoms experienced
by 70 to 80 percent of persons diagnosed with ADHD when they take
stimulant medications, it is very dicult to sustain the notion that ADHD

18

Misconceptions about Focus and Willpower

impairments are a matter of a lack of willpower. Prior to beginning medication treatment most ADHD patients have made heroic, though often
erratic, eorts to improve their situation with willpower alone. Usually such
eorts barely work, if at all, and cannot be sustained.
Some argue that improvement in ADD symptoms requires not only
willpower, but also intensive behavioral treatments. Results of a major
study sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health (MTA, 1999)
challenged this assumption. In the study, 576 children diagnosed with
ADHD were randomly assigned to one of four groups, which received
either:
Comprehensive behavioral treatment with no medication,
Carefully managed medication treatment with no other treatment,
A combination of comprehensive behavioral treatment with medication management, or
Community treatment with a pediatrician or another caregiver of the
familys choice.
The results of this study were striking. Stimulant medication alone,
carefully monitored for each child, was of signicantly greater help than
the best battery of behavioral supports that could be developed without
medication. More surprising, children who received the combined treatment (medication and comprehensive behavioral treatment) showed no
better improvement of their core ADHD symptoms than did children
treated only with carefully managed medications. Combined treatments
were more helpful with some related problems, but nonmedication treatments, even at their best, did not improve the core symptoms of ADHD anywhere near as much as did the carefully monitored medication treatment.
This study, described with many others in Chapter 9, stands as powerful
evidence that impairments of attention and memory associated with ADHD
result primarily from malfunctions in parts of the brains neural networks
that depend on the chemicals dopamine and norepinephrine.
Much more remains to be learned about how the brains complicated
neural networks operate to sustain the broad range of functions encompassed in attention. Yet it is clear that impairments of executive func-

Misconceptions about Focus and Willpower

19

tions, those brain processes that organize and activate what we generally
think of as attention, are not the result of insucient willpower. So in fact
there is an answer to the mystery of inattention illustrated by the experiences of Larry and Monica. Neural chemical impairments of the brains
executive functions cause some individuals who are good at paying attention to specic activities that interest them to have chronic impairment
in focusing for many other tasks, despite their wish and intention to do
otherwise.